


Expectations

by fluffywonder



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Not Natasha Friendly, team decency
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 17:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18642367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffywonder/pseuds/fluffywonder
Summary: Set at the end of Civil War - a sort of coda, or maybe a rewrite, really - of the scene where Natasha and Tony talk about egos and playing things wrong. Siberia still happened, but the details aren’t discussed here.





	Expectations

**Author's Note:**

> Vignette of self-reflection. If you’re a Black Widow fan, move along.

“Why are you holding on to your anger with Steve, but not me? We both kept the same secret from you.” The question only  seemed  nonchalant.

He is quiet for a long moment, before he smiles sadly. “We were never friends, Natasha. Not like I thought I was with Steve. Maybe it was subconscious, but, I never really expected the truth from you, not after Natalie Rushman. And given that you let Barnes and Rogers go at the airport... I’m not sure I was wrong.”

“Big words from someone who’s been trying to shed the Merchant of Death label for years now,” she shoots back, inexplicably stung. Foolishly, perhaps, it seemed she’d always expected Tony to trust her, even when she never really trusted him. She wondered what that said about her own ego. Or perhaps she’d just never expected to care this much about what anyone thought of her.

Something bitter passes over his face. “And I can’t, can I? Iron Man, the Avengers, it’s not enough. It’ll never be. My own experience has taught me that you can’t ever really wipe the slate clean, and given what happened with me and Ultron... maybe we’re all just doomed to repeat our mistakes until they inevitably kill us.”

Natasha flinches minutely, knowing Stark probably saw her reaction but not caring. She is stuck, stuck in a run-down hotel room more than a decade ago now, staring at an enemy agent who favors a bow over a gun.

_“You can be more than what they made you, Natalia.”_

She’d believed him then.

(But then she’d traded the KGB for SHIELD, for HYDRA, and she’d traded Tony for Steve.)

Now, she’s not so sure.

_(“It must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? Sticks in the DNA.”)_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you!


End file.
